


Slip Up

by DarkAliceLilith



Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 20:37:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5512364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkAliceLilith/pseuds/DarkAliceLilith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Connor thinks he's ruined Christmas when he accidentally tells Oliver's mother about his HIV.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slip Up

**Author's Note:**

> I got a prompt on tumblr asking for Connor accidentally telling Oliver's family about his HIV during Christmas, so here it be. Uh, don't know how in character I got it, I wrote most of it half asleep. Anyways, enjoy!

“Oliver! Ollie! I can’t find our medication!” Connor said, coming down the stairs and walking into the kitchen where Oliver and Mrs. Hampton were washing the breakfast dishes. “We’re already an hour late and I am so not waiting another month to-“ Oliver had turned around, eyes wide and the color draining from his face. “And I am so banished to the couch, aren’t I?”

“Medication? Oliver, what is he talking about? Oliver, are you sick?”

“You didn’t tell them yet?” Connor said, suddenly feeling guilty and backing away a few steps, wrapping his arms around himself. 

“Tell me what? Oliver, what is he talking about?”

Oliver was frozen in place, a terrified look on his face. He looked back and forth between his boyfriend and his mother, opening and closing his mouth over and over again, but no sound came out. His mother walked over to him, hands on her hips. “Oliver Hampton, tell me what he is talking about.”

Oliver took one last look at Connor who was hugging himself tightly and looking down at the floor. “I-I was waiting to tell you until after, I-I didn’t want to ruin Christmas.” 

“Why would you ruin Christmas?”

“I took a STD test and I tested positive for HIV.”

“Tested positive for-“ Mrs. Hampton’s face went red and she rounded on Connor, pointing a finger at him. “You! You did this to him! I knew you were no good for him! He told me about you, I should have known a slut-“

“Connor had nothing to do with this!” Oliver said, stepping in between Connor and his mother, his boyfriend had shrunk to a corner of the room. “I had a one night stand with some random guy. It was my fault. I did this to myself. Connor doesn’t have it; he’s only on medication so he doesn’t catch it from me. He didn’t do this to me. It was me. My mistake.” There were tears falling down both of their faces now, and his mother turned away from him. “Mom. Mom, please say something. Mom?”

“Your sister should be here soon,” She said, throwing down the towel in her hand on the counter and making her way up the stairs. “I need to make sure her room is ready.”

Oliver and Connor stood awkwardly silent in the kitchen, Connor still not looking up from the floor. After what felt like an eternity, Connor spoke, his voice quiet and cracked. “Ollie.”

“They’re in the bag with our toothbrushes in the bathroom,” Oliver snapped, going back towards the sink. He didn’t turn around to look at Connor, he was too angry and upset. After a moment he heard footsteps going back up the stairs, leaving him alone. In that moment, Oliver bowed his head and broke down. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

“Oliver!” Sara shouted, dropping her bags and running towards her brother, wrapping her arms around him tightly. “Oh, it’s so good to see you again!” She pulled back, a smile on her face. “I need to come out and stay with you sometime, unless you and the boyfriend don’t know how to keep your hands to yourselves,” She joked, giving him a gentle nudge. “So, is he here? Can I meet him?”

“He’s in my old room,” Oliver replied. “But I wouldn’t bother him right now.” He looked away, still feeling ashamed from that morning. “He’s…not doing so well right now.”

Sara frowned. “Ollie, did something happen? Do mom and dad not approve?”

“It’s not that,” Oliver said. “they like him, it’s just-it’s just he accidently let it slip to mom about my umm..” He paused and looked to see his father had gone upstairs to take Sara’s bags to her room. “This morning she found out I have HIV and then she stormed off and he’s locked himself away.” He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “So if Christmas is terrible this year, it’s all my fault.”

Sara hugged him again, resting her head on his shoulder. “It’s not your fault, Ollie. And don’t worry about mom, she’ll come around. Maybe you should go talk to your boyfriend and I can go talk to mom.” She lifted her head up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Christmas is not going to suck. Promise. Now go to your boyfriend. He probably needs reassurance that you don’t hate him.”

Oliver hugged her tighter for a moment before pulling away. “Okay. I’m glad you’re here, Sara.”

He slowly walked up the stairs, stopping in front of his old childhood room and stood there for a few minutes trying to think of what to say. After a deep breath, he opened the door and walked inside closing it behind him. 

Connor was lying on the bed, eyes closed and hugging a pillow to his chest like he normally did when he was upset or feeling vulnerable. Oliver watched him for a moment before sitting down on the edge of the bed and wiping away a stray tear from Connor’s face. “Connor,” He whispered softly. “Connor, look at me.”

Connor opened his eyes and looked up at Oliver. “Oliver, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. I didn’t tell you I wasn’t planning on telling them yet,” Oliver said, reaching out and placing his hand on Connor’s arm. “But I’m not going to lie, I am very, very mad right now.”

“I figured you would be,” Connor said, sitting up and holding the pillow tighter against his chest and looking down at the sheets. “I mean look at me, all I ever do is make mistakes. I don’t-I don’t understand why you stay with me.” He sighed and closed his eyes. “To be honest, there are days I wish I never came back.”

“Connor-“

“I just keep messing up your life, Oliver!” Connor said, a fresh wave of tears falling down his face. “I cheated on you, I keep telling people about your HIV, I smashed your computer. I’m a terrible person, Ollie. You should have never taken me back. I should have never kept pushing to see you. You deserve better than me.”

“I love you,” Oliver whispered. It had been almost a year since they had gotten back together, but they hardly ever said those words out loud. This was the third time he had said it to Connor, Connor only ever saying it once to him. “That’s why I’m still with you. That’s why I took you back. That’s why I will fight to keep you with me.”

Connor finally looked up and Oliver reached out, wiping the tears from his eyes. “You shouldn’t.”

“But I do.”

Connor scooted closer and rested his head on Oliver’s shoulder. “I still ruined Christmas.”

Oliver gave a laugh and wrapped his arm around Connor’s waist, holding him tight and resting his cheek on Connor’s head. “It was going to come out sooner or later. I guess it’s better than it was sooner. Mom will come around, Connor. Christmas will be fine.”

There was a knock on the door before a shout of, “You two better have clothes on!” 

Connor jumped and Oliver laughed again. “It’s just Sara. She’s been dying to meet you. Sara, come on in!”

The door opened and Sara walked in. “Ah, now I finally get to meet the man who stole my brother’s heart. Pictures just don’t do you justice, Connor Walsh. You really did score a hot one, Ollie.”

\----------------------------------------------------------

Connor was nervous as he walked into the kitchen where Oliver’s mom was chopping up vegetables for dinner. “Do you need any help?”

She paused for a moment and looked up at him, before pointing at a drawer. “Knives are in there, extra cutting board is by the sink.” She went back to the vegetables as he grabbed what he needed and stood next to her, grabbing the carrots. They chopped in silence for a while, Connor still trying of what to say to this woman. 

Finally, he took a deep breath and spoke. “I know you don’t think I deserve your son, Mrs. Hampton,” He said, afraid to look over at her. “The truth is that I agree with you. Oliver deserves a better man than me and there are days I still wonder why he took me back.” Mrs. Hampton stopped chopping and looked over at him, but he still refused to look up, he started to sweat a bit and set the knife down. “But I-I love your son. I have never loved another man in my life before, I’ve never wanted to, but I love him. He’s a good man, and if I was still the man I was before I met him, I would have left the moment he told me he tested positive but I stayed. I’m sorry you found out the way you did, but I just-I don’t want this to affect Christmas. Oliver has been looking forward to this and I don’t want me screwing up to ruin that. Please don’t be mad at Oliver.”

“I was never mad at Oliver,” Mrs. Hampton said, throwing the potatoes she chopped into a dish and wiping her hands off before turning towards Connor. “I always thought he would be careful, I tried telling him and Sara both to be careful but it seems my warning fell on deaf ears.”

“You don’t like me very much do you?” Connor dared to ask, fidgeting as he waited for an answer. 

She stood there for a moment, just staring at him and he started to feel even more uncomfortable. “Oliver is my son and a mother does not stop worrying about her children just because they are grown and out of her house. He has never had good luck in love, or a good taste in men, always ends up with a broken heart.”

“And I broke his heart.”

“You did. And while Oliver took you back, the fact is that you still cheated on my son. That is why I thought it was you who gave him it.”

“If I-if I never…” Connor stopped and took a shaky breath. “He would never have had that one night stand had I been faithful. You were right to blame me. It was my fault, even if Oliver says it wasn’t. It was me and-and you have every right to hate me. I would hate me too, and I do, I hate myself for hurting Oliver.”

“Why did you do it?”

Connor didn’t even have this conversation with Oliver. Oliver never asked and Connor didn’t want to talk about it. After a moment, he shrugged. He really didn’t want to go into details with his boyfriend’s mother. “Because I was stupid,” Connor said before sighing. “Before Oliver, I was never in a true relationship with somebody. I didn’t want to be.”

“Then why be with my son at all?”

“Do you really want to hear this?” Connor asked, looking up at her. “I’m not the person I was then; I have no desire to be that man anymore. What matters is that I-I love your son, and I plan on being with him and only him for however long he’ll have me. Yeah, I made mistakes, several of them and I hurt Oliver, but I am trying my hardest every damn day to make it up to him.”

Mrs. Hampton was silent for a moment before turning back to finish dinner. “It has been a very long time since I’ve seen Oliver smile the way he does when he’s around you. I am disappointed in Oliver, and you’re right, I did not like you, but you make my son happy. I think that that’s the important thing.” She turned back towards Connor, placing her hands on his shoulders and looking up at him. “Make sure you keep him happy. He’s been hurt enough, and I know that testing positive must have devastated him. I will not lie, ever since he came out to us, I feared that this would happen to him. I’m glad it is no longer the death sentence it was years ago.” She leaned up and pressed her lips against his cheek. “Take care of my boy, Connor. Please.”

“He’s the world to me,” Connor said. “I’ll do anything for him.”

She gave him a smile and stepped away. “Will you set the table for us? And if you would, there is a bottle of wine in the pantry. It’s one of Oliver’s favorites.”


End file.
